Ken Borland

A few years ago, Proteas all-rounder Sune Luus was in the throes of a terrible time in her career, battling a loss of form and confidence, as well as injury. But now the Pretoria-born star says she is rejuvenated and looking forward to a bright new future with the South African women’s team having a new coach in Mandla Mashimbyi.

Between the summers of 2020 and 2021, Luus scored just 108 runs in eight ODI innings, and in eight T20 knocks in 2021 and 2022, she scored just 88 runs. The leg-spinner also struggled with the ball: In T20s between 2021 and 2023, she bowled just 20 overs, conceding 159 runs and taking only two wickets. From 2023 to the winter of 2024, she did not bowl at all in ODIs.

But her best form has returned as she scored 65 and an epic 109 in the one-off Test against India last year in Chennai and was the dominant batter in one-day cricket in the last domestic season, scoring 359 runs in six innings, at an average of 119, for the Titans. She has also regained confidence in her bowing by switching to off-spin and the 29-year-old was her team’s most economical bowler in the T20 competition.

“You’re always going to get ups-and-downs in your career and it was a tough time. I kinda came to the end of my bowling leg-spin, and it was always very important to me to be able to contribute in all three departments.

“We now have a new national coach in Mandla and he has slotted right in and brought a new energy. I really enjoy that because the way I specifically play my game, I like to play with energy and feed off the youngsters.

“Now that I’m in my 14^th year of international cricket, I’m playing with confidence again. I’m not going to be training as much, for me it’s about keeping in touch with my game and fine-tuning it. You need to back your skills. And when any of the youngsters come to me, hopefully I can add some of that confidence and mental strength to their games,” Luus told kenborland.com in an exclusive interview after she won the Titans Player of the Year award in Centurion.

While the South African women’s team has become much more of a force in world cricket since Luus started playing for the Proteas in 2012, they have not yet been able to win an ICC global event.

They reached the finals of both the 2023 and 2024 T20 World Cups, but lost to Australia and New Zealand respectively. In 2017 they reached the semifinals of the 50-over World Cup for the first time since 2000, and made the last four again in 2022.

“Obviously winning finals is now the next step we want to take as a team in this new era,” Luus said. “We’ve managed to get over our semifinals thing, but fallen short in two finals now. So we’ve managed to get stronger in winning semifinals, and now that we’ve been there in two finals, hopefully we can now win one of those too.

“I believe Mandla will help us get to that next level, winning trophies was one of his strengths when he was the coach of the Titans men’s team. The first T20 final we were in, it was kinda a case of just being chuffed to be there, but the second one we were really gunning for the win, but unfortunately New Zealand were just stronger than us on the day.

“We’ve never made the 50-over World Cup final and it’s now time to rectify that when the next tournament starts in September,” Luus said.

The ability of the Northerns Titans to keep their wits about them under pressure is something the national team should maybe try and borrow from them as Mandla Mashimbyi’s side claimed the CSA T20 Challenge title at the weekend with a thrilling victory over the KZN Dolphins in Potchefstroom.

Having restricted KZN to 162/3 after they were 110/1 after 15 overs, the Titans chased their target down with two balls to spare and four wickets in hand, despite slipping to 99/5 after 14 overs. It meant Northerns won a staggering eight of their nine matches in Potchefstroom, with Dayyaan Galiem (32* off 22) and Donavon Ferreira (40 off 25) the heroes in the final as they added 63 off 37 balls for the sixth wicket.

“It was a tough campaign but I think that prepared us for those tight moments in the final,” coach Mashimbyi told The Citizen on Sunday. “We had two low-scoring chases before, the one we came close, the other we nearly stuffed up.

“But there were learnings from that, it gave us an emphasis and a structure of how to chase. If it hadn’t happened, we might have made the same mistakes as in last season’s final.

“The players were able to identify the big moments and the areas they had to look after. The bowling unit was a big highlight for me, that’s what wins you tournaments.

“With the batting, partnerships are the only thing that get you over the line and we had two guys who were able to connect and find a way. It was nice to see us control our emotions,” Mashimbyi said.

The 2021/22 CSA Coach of the Season has high hopes for the 25-year-old Galiem and believes he will become the same sort of expert finisher for the Titans as Farhaan Behardien was, as well as pushing for higher honours.

“Dayyaan has been the big positive for me this tournament, just how he went about his business,” Mashimbyi said. “He was really focused over the winter and worked hard on his finishing skills and power-hitting.

“He’s shown 100% buy-in for what we want to do and I think he can finish for us like how Fudgie used to. Dayyaan Is certainly an up-and-coming star for the Titans and our national teams.

“And he can bowl as well, so he’s a huge talent. That 19^th over he bowled that cost just one run and he got Jon-Jon Smuts out brought us back into the game.

“If he keeps on playing like this then I won’t be surprised if he gets a call-up,” Mashimbyi said.

The Northerns Titans sang long and lustily to celebrate their remarkable triumph in the CSA 4-Day Series, but coach Mandla Mashimbyi is not the sort to grab the mike and do a solo. It is just not his style and his coaching is the same, with the former pace bowler praising a team effort for their first trophy since 2018/19.

“It was a great effort from the boys as a collective, it was a team effort,” Mashimbyi said. “Trophies are always nice to have, but the process of rebuilding the team started two years ago. It usually takes three years for the players to bind to your philosophies, so we are in the middle of that process.

“We didn’t start this competition as well as we would have liked, but we have put a lot in place since then and the team responded beautifully. Whenever we needed them to, they came through nicely.

“My responsibility was to keep the players believing, even when the Lions had a massive lead, and they responded brilliantly. We won four out of our last five games.

“It was an unbelievable finish, we finished like the Lions started,” Mashimbyi said.

Considering the powerhouse outfit they were before Mashimbyi replaced Mark Boucher in December 2019 and the new-look team they now field, Titans cricket is certainly in a healthy space.

The batting was superb with nine players averaging more than 40, Heinrich Klaasen topping the averages with 84.75 and Grant Mokoena the leading run-scorer with 482 runs at 48.20. While Simon Harmer led the bowling with 44 wickets, the most in the competition, he was well supported by the seam bowlers. Lizaad Williams was only available for two matches due to injury and Proteas call-ups, but topped the averages with 10 wickets at 12.60.

“Heinrich returned to us from the Proteas with a really good attitude and Grant Mokoena can now see his name up at the upper end of the best performers,” Mashimbyi said.

“Grant has always shown potential, but to come out and do what he has done is unbelievable for him. He understands his game now, he does his own things but it works for him.

“Lizaad came back with a lot of heart and passion, he really brought fight. The pace bowlers and Simon Harmer were magnificent as a unit,” Mashimbyi said.

Despite the Northerns Titans having eventually seen off a determined second innings by the Central Gauteng Lions half-an-hour before tea on the final day, coach Mandla Mashimbyi was not far from having kittens in the changeroom for the next two-and-a-half hours as they waited anxiously for the result of the Eastern Province Warriors match against the Free State Knights in Bloemfontein on Monday.

The Titans eventually bowled the Lions out for 273 in their second innings, Mitchell van Buuren leading the resistance with a tremendously defiant 107, remarkably, his second century of the match. He was ably supported by Reeza Hendricks, who denied Northerns for more than four hours in scoring 89.

But off-spinner Simon Harmer kept chipping away for the Titans and his 6/84 in 33.2 overs took his season tally to 44 wickets at an average of just 19.29.

Northerns were left with just 62 to win and they did that in 13.1 overs with seven wickets in hand.

But Free State were busy collapsing in Bloemfontein, slumping to 82/8, a lead of just 143, against the EP Warriors, who had declared on their overnight score of 166/3, still 61 runs behind. With the Titans winning at Centurion, Eastern Province had to win their game to claim the title.

It was a tactic that very nearly paid off as they bowled superbly in swing-friendly conditions, Mthiwekhaya Nabe leading the way with 4/26 in 12 overs, while Akhona Mnyaka removed Paballo Mogoera (4) and Raynard van Tonder (0) with successive deliveries.

Patrick Botha is being released by the Knights, but the Northerns Titans may be inclined to look kindly on him as his 38 on Monday, following up his first-innings century, was crucial in keeping the Warriors in the field until the rain came shortly before the tea break.

The weather never improved and the umpires finally called off play in Bloemfontein at 5pm, much to the delight of the Titans team at Centurion.

A new-look Titans side triumphed thanks to an impressive all-round effort in the competition. The whole batting unit all averaged over 40 through the season – nine of them in total – while Harmer was well-supported by seamers Lizaad Williams (10 wickets @ 12.60), Aya Gqamane (14 @ 28.57), Corbin Bosch (18 @ 33.22) and Junior Dala (11 @ 35.81).

It would seem all is on track with the rebuild at SuperSport Park, the Titans having also finished runners-up in the CSA T20 Challenge last week.

Scores in brief of other games

KZN Dolphins 422 v Boland 422/8 declared (Pieter Malan 219*, Stiaan van Zyl 48, Shaun von Berg 40; Eathan Bosch 3/56, Prenelan Subrayen 3/124). Match drawn.

Western Province 576 v North-West 202 and 242 (Wesley Marshall 58, Senuran Muthusamy 101; George Linde 3-48). Western Province won by an innings and 132 runs.